The success of Williams-Sonoma's direct-mail catalogs has as much to do with its savvy use of the print medium as it does with the premium quality of its merchandise. Working with the unique strengths of the catalog format, the company has discovered ways to enhance the shopping experience of customers who order by mail.

Enter the pages of a Williams-Sonoma mail-order catalog, and you feel the comfortable familiarity of having walked into one of its retail stores. Merchandise is attractively organized and displayed. Accompanying text is presented in a friendly, service-oriented tone. And the styling of the photography suggests a knowledge and appreciation of the needs of serious home cooks. Williams-Sonoma's premium brand image is evident on every page.

The clarity and consistency with which Williams-Sonoma delivers this message are key reasons why the company is now the nation's dominant home-centered specialty retailer. Today the company operates 276 retail stores and distributes more than 154 million catalogs annually for its five home-based concepts - Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Hold Everything, Gardeners Eden and Chambers. Catalog sales growth has consistently outpaced its retail sales over the past five years, increasing by 19% in 1997 alone.

Translating merchandising concepts for direct-mail catalogs is a skill unto itself. Techniques used to create a pleasurable shopping experience - e.g., enticing displays, stimulating lighting, relaxed traffic flow, informed sales personnel, efficient check-out counters and the like - don't directly apply. By virtue of its medium, a printed catalog prevents shoppers from seeing and touching a product firsthand or asking a friendly clerk for advice. A catalog must rely on design presentation to communicate its brand personality, steer customers through its merchandise offerings, cross-sell products and explain each item's special attributes. The design and text must speak in a tone of voice that invites mail-order shoppers to settle back and "browse" a while.

This voice and desire to inform came naturally to founder Chuck Williams, who introduced the company's first mail-order catalog in 1971 to give serious home cooks access to professional cooking equipment and imported foods, previously available only through his shop in San Francisco. Williams' reputation for carrying the highest quality cookware had spread beyond the Bay Area, and to meet far-reaching demand, he produced "A Catalog for Cooks," with the initial help of his friend Edward Marcus of Neiman Marcus. The first mailing went out to 5,000 food savvy customers.

Although Williams, now in his 80s, is semi-retired, his influence is still felt in the company today. "Chuck keeps everyone honest," says Kerrie Chappelka, vice president of creative services in charge of all five catalogs. "He says, 'Don't make it confusing, tell an honest story and pay attention to details.' Chuck is good at making sure that no one goes too far afield."

To ensure that each merchandise concept reflects a singular vision, the contents of each Williams-Sonoma catalog as well as its related retail stores are determined by the merchant (head buyer) in charge of the concept. Each concept is essentially treated as a separate company and has its own unique identity. The merchant determines what goes into a catalog and organizes the product offerings into page spreads, working closely with an in-house production team. The catalog team consists of a production manager, coordinator, assistant and copy editor who see the process through from beginning to end. The art director, stylist, photographer and copywriter for each catalog are hired from outside. "Our aim is to put together the best team and establish a long-term relationship," says Chappelka. "The more we know about each other and our working styles, the better we can be."

This continuity also makes for greater consistency from catalog to catalog. The design and photographic styling, paper, color separations and printing are kept to a high standard. We look at everything as a reflection on the product," says Chappelka.

That goes for the thematic story on each spread as well. "We try to make our copy more than sound bites, and try to use it to help customers understand their purchase better. We believe that everything should tell a story. If we're featuring a recipe for Tortilla Soup, for instance, we may show it with the cheese, the grater, the pot for making it in. All the pieces fit together. It's all here, as opposed to searching it out. That is not to say that you need to buy everything on the page to make the dish, but here are things that may make it easier."

Including recipes not only helps to sell the cookware on the page, it serves to increase the educational and entertainment value of the catalog. When producing four seasonal catalogs a year, ranging between 72 and 134 pages (and different versions within those seasons), recipes are a way to entice mail-order customers to look inside to see what's new.

Despite the multiple catalog versions produced each year, Williams-Sonoma rarely reuses photographs, even though a product remains the same. "We reshoot to keep the backgrounds and lighting consistent in each book," explains Chris Weber, whose firm has been designing the Williams-Sonoma catalog for the past three and a half years. "Williams-Sonoma as a company knows what has value. They are willing to reshoot anything just to get the color of the wood table to match what is on the page. They will go that extra mile all the time to have the quality where it needs to be."

The change in photographic presentation is also important for giving a fresh look to stock items such as Calphalon pans featured in every catalog. "Certain recognizable brand names give authority to our merchandise," says Chappelka. "We have to have them in every catalog. Maybe customers won't purchase them the first time, or the second time they see it, but the third time, they may say, 'Okay, this is what I want.'"

Presenting repeat items in different ways helps customers understand their versatile uses. A catalog lets you do things that you can't do in a store, Weber points out. "A catalog lets us bring the product right into the home, put the food right on the table," she explains. "If we are going to shoot a trifle bowl, we look for a great-looking trifle to put in there because that will sell the bowl. For a salad bowl, we look for the trendiest frisee lettuce and work on a background that complements the product. We can create a story around an omelet pan by the recipe, the herbs in the background, the spatula and the plate the omelet will be served on. We can help you visualize using the products in your home."

The catalog format also enables Williams-Sonoma to test new product categories more easily and cost-efficiently. "Furniture and food are prime examples," says Chappelka. "If we were going to have them in a store, they'd have to go into all of our stores. That means buying a lot more inventory. With the catalog, we can keep the products in a warehouse."

But even catalog tests are less risky for Williams-Sonoma, which is unsurpassed in identifying customer tastes and preferences. "We very much watch what sells and doesn't and keep a history of how things are going We know who our customers are, what they like and don't like. They tell us by their buying," Chappelka says. "One of the fun things when a book is mailed, is we start getting the sales results. It is like watching a ticker tape. Sometimes we say, 'Look what they're buying first!' It's great."

Still, Chappelka emphasizes, "When we are putting together a catalog, we have to be aware of how easy or difficult it is for the customer to use. If a customer looks at a page and is confused, she'll turn to the next page. A good lesson for all of us is at Christmas time, when everyone on the corporate direct-mail side answers telephones. You think you've thought everything through and a customer will say, 'I don't get this,' and you go, 'You know what, I don't either.' It's amazing. You realize you haven't worked it all out."

The Williams-Sonoma catalog averages nine items on a spread, so eliminating confusion is critical. Captions are placed right next to the photo of the product and surrounded with as much white space as possible. "Supposedly, the more products you get on the page, the better they sell, but the truth is, there's a line where too much takes away from a product. But too little and the page won't generate enough sales returns to carry itself," says Chappelka. "We love white space. We strive for a balance of white space."

Looking for the optimum balance is a Williams-Sonoma hallmark. "We pay extraordinary attention to details at Williams-Sonoma," Chappelka says. "We work hard to bring consistency to our catalogs, and to make them consistent with the image we present in our stores. We don't want customers to have a different experience in the catalogs than in the stores. When you work hard to build a brand, you have to protect it carefully by making sure that nothing dilutes your identity."